While the Horizon League finished a dismal #20 in the rpi rankings, the addition of Northern Kentucky was the right fit at the right time. They were in the last year of D1 reclassification, an athletics department that had great facilities, investing in their programs and in the process of hiring new coaches.

Their men's & women's soccer teams both finished 3rd in the standings.
Volleyball finished 4th.
Men's & Women's basketball finished 8th and 6th respectively.

The Men's hoops knocked off Oakland and Detroit on the road and surprised Youngstown State and Milwaukee at home. They've got 3, 3-star players coming in next season along with an Alabama transfer. They should be better next season which will be their first official season as a full D1 member eligible for the NCAA Dance!

Yes, NKU is a good fit for the Horizon League. Basketball should get going here pretty soon. They were good at the D-2 level and there is room in the Cincinnati market for them to get exposure and publicity.

I think the coaching changes at a number of Horizon League schools will get the league will get back to the 11-14 range it's usually in for Conference RPI in men's basketball. Having NKU in the league will definitely help with trying to get at-large bids in the NCAA men's and women's soccer tournaments as you now have two teams in one of the best soccer recruiting areas in the country instead of one.

They have a really nice Arena also.

They have a nicer arena then most teams in the American, they should do well in basketball going forward.

What is the cap for Northern Kentucky? Could they score an A-10 invitation, possibly as a replacement for Dayton if they ever get the call from the Big East? Or is the Horizon pretty much as far as they can go without major rules changes or adding football?

I suspect the Horizon is the limit for 'em, personally...and that's OK 'cause it's a solid fit.

(04-13-2016 05:41 PM)Cyniclone Wrote:  What is the cap for Northern Kentucky? Could they score an A-10 invitation, possibly as a replacement for Dayton if they ever get the call from the Big East? Or is the Horizon pretty much as far as they can go without major rules changes or adding football?

I'd see that working out only if the Atlantic 10 thinks it would be stuck at 13 indefinitely. The problem is that if the Big East expands, the Atlantic 10 will be at 12 members, not 13 members. Saint Louis is gone, and it's likely a coin flip between Dayton and Richmond. Even if the Atlantic 10 somehow wound up keeping Saint Louis but not Dayton, I could see them taking UIC as a travel partner, for the recruiting territory, and for the Chicago market.

The CAA is no longer a destination conference.

The Missouri Valley may be a slight possibility, but they would be more inclined to take Murray State than NKU.

(04-13-2016 05:41 PM)Cyniclone Wrote:  What is the cap for Northern Kentucky? Could they score an A-10 invitation, possibly as a replacement for Dayton if they ever get the call from the Big East? Or is the Horizon pretty much as far as they can go without major rules changes or adding football?

Actually their cap is about as good as UIC, Valparaiso and Oakland's. The HL had a nice change-over with coaches and influx of good talent the past couple years. If the HL regains its status as a top 11-12 league, that'll put some teams in a position to be looked at as possible replacements in leagues such as the A-10 or MVC. But the HL isn't that bad of a league itself. It could be good enough to consistently get 2-3 bids as the A-10 or MVC and our teams could just stay put.

(04-14-2016 12:50 AM)Chuck_A Wrote:  

(04-13-2016 05:41 PM)Cyniclone Wrote:  What is the cap for Northern Kentucky? Could they score an A-10 invitation, possibly as a replacement for Dayton if they ever get the call from the Big East? Or is the Horizon pretty much as far as they can go without major rules changes or adding football?

Actually their cap is about as good as UIC, Valparaiso and Oakland's. The HL had a nice change-over with coaches and influx of good talent the past couple years. If the HL regains its status as a top 11-12 league, that'll put some teams in a position to be looked at as possible replacements in leagues such as the A-10 or MVC. But the HL isn't that bad of a league itself. It could be good enough to consistently get 2-3 bids as the A-10 or MVC and our teams could just stay put.

NKU has a much better arena than UIC, land to expand, and a growing budget. UIC is landlocked and its budget is circling the drain due to Illinois' financial issues. NKU is much smaller and newer than UIC, but I'd say it has more long-term potential.

Interestingly, NKU already has a bigger endowment than George Mason and St. Bonaventure. And only 4 A-10 schools have bigger arenas than NKU.

But it's hard to build a new fanbase in such a saturated CBB market. Unless they win HUGE like FGCU (not gonna happen), they've got to rely on the alumni base. They're still at least 10 years away from being able to regularly fill the arena with alums who lived on campus - when I started colllege (2001) they had 1 dorm and the only admission requirement was a high school diploma/GED.

(04-14-2016 12:38 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  NKU has a much better arena than UIC, land to expand, and a growing budget. UIC is landlocked and its budget is circling the drain due to Illinois' financial issues. NKU is much smaller and newer than UIC, but I'd say it has more long-term potential.

Not to go tit-for-tat, but their arena is newer but only holds 1500 more. I agree that they have long-term potential, but not sure that it's more. UIC is not as locked at you might think. The University owns quite a bit of property in the area around campus, but it's not like we're looking to build a football stadium. We have space that we can use.

Former UIC coach Jimmy Collins failed to capitalize on the success of his one great class with Cedrick Banks and Martell Bailey. After they graduated, it was pretty much downhill from there. I don't see that from Coach McClain. The dude just recruited the best class in the Horizon League, after doing the same last season. Now hopefully they can put it together for '16-'17. Northern Kentucky will have good talent as well.


I still think it will be UIC, NKU, Oakland, Valparaiso and Green Bay in the upper echelon of the HL for the foreseeable future. Next season has to be a bounce-back year!

(04-15-2016 09:08 PM)Chuck_A Wrote:  

(04-14-2016 12:38 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  NKU has a much better arena than UIC, land to expand, and a growing budget. UIC is landlocked and its budget is circling the drain due to Illinois' financial issues. NKU is much smaller and newer than UIC, but I'd say it has more long-term potential.

Not to go tit-for-tat, but their arena is newer but only holds 1500 more. I agree that they have long-term potential, but not sure that it's more. UIC is not as locked at you might think. The University owns quite a bit of property in the area around campus, but it's not like we're looking to build a football stadium. We have space that we can use.

Former UIC coach Jimmy Collins failed to capitalize on the success of his one great class with Cedrick Banks and Martell Bailey. After they graduated, it was pretty much downhill from there. I don't see that from Coach McClain. The dude just recruited the best class in the Horizon League, after doing the same last season. Now hopefully they can put it together for '16-'17. Northern Kentucky will have good talent as well.


I still think it will be UIC, NKU, Oakland, Valparaiso and Green Bay in the upper echelon of the HL for the foreseeable future. Next season has to be a bounce-back year!

I don't mean landlocked for a new arena. I meant landlocked for campus expansion.

Alumni support is primarily driven by alums who lived on-campus. UIC and NKU are both primarily commuter schools, so their primary way to grow athletics will be to grow on-campus housing. That'll be a lot cheaper for NKU than UIC.

UIC has 240 acres, much of which is the med school/hospital. NKU has 424 acres. Sure, UIC is an urban campus and can build denser, but that's very expensive and requires tearing down existing buildings or getting rid of precious green space. And UIC doesn't have the political power to shove existing residents out of the way like some other urban campuses (like Cincinnati or Ohio State).

UIC is clearly ahead of NKU now. But I'd bet anything that NKU will get more state funding for growth in the next decade than UIC.